NREL Finds Fewer Failures of #PV Panels and Different Degradation Modes in Systems Installed after 2000

Researchers at NREL Find Fewer Failures of PV Panels and Different Degradation Modes in Systems Installed after 2000 04/10/2017 Overall failure rates for photovoltaic (PV) solar panels have fallen dramatically when compared to installations prior to 2000, according to a comprehensive review by researchers from the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Data on the failure of a PV panel, defined as one that had to be replaced, was culled from reports on 4,500 globally deployed panels and another 50,000 installed systems around the United States. Installations between 2000 and 2015 exhibited a median failure rate of 5 panels out of 10,000 annually, while for those panels installed between 1980 and 2000 the rate was twice as high. The difference is not explained by a greater deterioration of the pre-2000 installations, because when grouped into syste...